Tuesday at Connaught matches 2nd Wednesday at the Bisley Imperial. The Letson (2&7 @ 300m, 500x & 600x) makes up the first qualifying stage of the principal prize (The Governor General’s). And the nemesis long range shoot, akin to a Corporation of Canada, is formally known as The Alexander of Tunis. This 2&10 shoot at the longest available range (900m) is attended by the usual superstitions, which are borne of direct experience in the case of the NRA Chairman – of whom more in an interview.
Despite the busyness of the day, there was still a long break mid morning, between the 2nd and 3rd ranges. By this point, the team had scored 31 possibles, which set us up for the 600x shoot, held for most at 1347 local time, precisely. GB finished with 4 scores of 105 (Crispy top on 13 Vs) and 9 scores of 104, after notably dark conditions at 600x.
A brief interlude came in the early afternoon between the individual shoots, where GB made 5 entries in the Coaches Match (a single range 2&10 shoot at 900m with a coached pair of shooters). With little team shooting thus far, this was a welcome opportunity for management to assess performance under coached conditions ahead of selection for the bigger matches: on Thursday the Auslaender, for which the German BDMP team has donated the trophy, leading on to the Canada, Commonwealth & America matches over Friday – Sunday.
Our teams were: this diarist’s team (The Tudor Roses, comprising a Welsh Englishman, an Irish Englishman and an English Englishman); the Doc’s team (Pie, Peas and Mint Sauce); the originally named GBRT Townsend & GBRT Underwood; and the GBRT Veterans, who did the business with 100.6 (yes, 6).
The experience of range officering the Coaches Match was clearly more than the range staff bargained for, as they called off the remainder of the day owing to impending rain and perhaps the need for some to start boiling corn for the Corn Boil, to which the team has been invited. The Tunis is extracting maximum psychological impact on visitors as we will wait to hear whether / how it may be accommodated in the coming days.
Tuesday closes with Crispy leading the Grand, with no pints dropped and 2 Vs ahead of Oliver Milanovic of the USA. Olay is 2nd among GBRT with 1 off & the two oldest Guildfordians follow on 2 off.
Elsewhere in the news, a Surrey Rifle Association team (made up of 4 people from Guildford and 4 not) has won the Gordon Highlanders team’s match (concurrent with the Letson) by 4 points from an Ontario team. Fu Yung has chopsticked further insects today and leads Chaley by 1 fly & 2 vings. And the team would like to thank a correspondent from northern Britain, who has more to say about our performances than either diarist has shared.
